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1. Algal biofuels from urban wastewaters: Maximizing biomass yield using nutrients recycled from hydrothermal processing of biomass

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2015.01.134  

   Selvaratnam, T. ; Pegallapati, A.K. ; Reddy, H. ; Kanapathipillai, N. ; Nirmalakhandan, N. ; Deng, S. ; Lammers, P.J. ( April 2015 , Bioresource Technology)
2. Size-resolved aerosol emissions from lignocellulosic biomass and biomass constituent pyrolysis under variable dilution temperatures

   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2020.105679  

   McLaughlin, Luke P. ; Belmont, Erica L. ( January 2021 , Journal of Aerosol Science)

   null (Ed.)
3. Laboratory studies of fresh and aged biomass burning aerosol emitted from east African biomass fuels – Part 2: Chemical properties and characterization

   https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10169-2020  

   Smith, Damon M. ; Cui, Tianqu ; Fiddler, Marc N. ; Pokhrel, Rudra P. ; Surratt, Jason D. ; Bililign, Solomon ( January 2020 , Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract. There are many fuels used for domestic purposes in east Africa, producing a significant atmospheric burden of the resulting aerosols, which includes biomass burning particles. However, the aerosol physicochemical properties are poorly understood. Here, the combustion of eucalyptus, acacia, and olive fuels was performed at 500 and 800 ∘C in a tube furnace, followed by immediate filter collection for fresh samples or introduction into a photochemical chamber to simulate atmospheric photochemical aging under the influence of anthropogenic emissions. The aerosol generated in the latter experiment was collected onto filters after 12 h of photochemical aging. 500 and 800 ∘C were selected to simulate smoldering and flaming combustion, respectively, and to cover a range of combustion conditions. Methanol extracts from Teflon filters were analyzed by ultra-performance liquid chromatography interfaced to both a diode array detector and an electrospray ionization high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (UPLC/DAD-ESI-HR-QTOFMS) to determine the light absorption properties of biomass burning organic aerosol constituents chemically characterized at the molecular level. Few chemical or UV–visible (UV: ultraviolet) differences were apparent between samples for the fuels when combusted at 800 ∘C. Differences in single-scattering albedo (SSA) between fresh samples at this temperature were attributed to compounds not captured in this analysis, with eucalyptol being one suspected missing component. For fresh combustion at 500 ∘C, many species were present; lignin pyrolysis and distillation products are more prevalent in eucalyptus, while pyrolysis products of cellulose and at least one nitro-aromatic species were more prevalent in acacia. SSA trends areconsistent with this, particularly if the absorption of those chromophoresextends to the 500–570 nm region. Upon aging, both show that resorcinolor catechol was removed to the highest degree, and both aerosol types weredominated by loss of pyrolysis and distillation products, though they differed in the specific compounds being consumed by the photochemical aging process. 

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4. Refractive Indices of Biomass Burning Aerosols Obtained from African Biomass Fuels Using RDG Approximation

   https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11010062  

   Sarpong, Emmanuel ; Smith, Damon ; Pokhrel, Rudra ; Fiddler, Marc N. ; Bililign, Solomon ( January 2020 , Atmosphere)

   null (Ed.)

   Biomass burning (BB) aerosols contribute to climate forcing, but much is still unknown about the extent of this forcing, owing partially to the high level of uncertainty regarding BB aerosol optical properties. A key optical parameter is the refractive index (RI), which influences the absorbing and scattering properties of aerosols. This quantity is not measured directly, but it is obtained by fitting the measured scattering cross section and extinction cross section to a theoretical model using the RI as a fitting parameter. We used the Rayleigh–Debye–Gans (RDG) approximation to retrieve the complex RI of freshly emitted BB aerosol from two fuels (eucalyptus and olive) from Africa in the spectral range of 500–580 nm. Experimental measurements were carried out using cavity ring-down spectroscopy to measure extinction over the range of wavelengths of 500–580 nm and nephelometry to measure scattering at three wavelengths of 450, 550, and 700 nm for size-selected BB aerosol particles. The fuels were combusted in a tube furnace at a temperature of 800 °C, which is representative of the flaming stage of burning. Filter samples were collected and imaged using tunneling electron microscopy to obtain information on the morphology and size of the particles, which was used in the RDG calculations. The mean radii of the monomers were 27.8 and 31.5 nm for the eucalyptus and the olive fuels, respectively. The components of the retrieved complex RI were in the range of 1.31 ≤ n ≤ 1.56 and 0.045 ≤ k ≤ 0.468. The real and complex parts of the RI increase with increasing particle mobility diameter. The real part of the RI is lower, and the imaginary part is higher than what was recommended in literature for black carbon generated by propane or field measurements from fires of mixed wood samples. Fuel dependent results from controlled laboratory experiments can be used in climate modeling efforts and to constrain field measurements from biomass burning. 

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5. Biomass Production a Stronger Driver of Cellulosic Ethanol Yield than Biomass Quality

   https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj2016.08.0454  

   Sanford, Gregg R. ; Oates, Lawrence G. ; Roley, Sarah S. ; Duncan, David S. ; Jackson, Randall D. ; Robertson, G. Philip ; Thelen, Kurt D. ( January 2017 , Agronomy Journal)